Strategic Plan
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Worsening Climate Crisis In King County and globally, climate change is affecting the environment, economy, and human health. 34 The Puget Sound region is experiencing rising air temperatures and more heat-related health impacts, including more illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Figure 5
Environmental Exposure Index
The transportation sector generates more than one-third of climate-altering GHG emissions in King County. Before COVID-19, total vehicle miles for work trips per person had increased, as did the GHG emissions from those vehicles. This may be because people are traveling farther for work, potentially because they moved farther from job centers. Priority populations tend to bear a disproportionate burden of the impacts of climate change. 35 This is demonstrated through Figure 5, from King County’s 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan. Priority populations are more likely to be exposed to hazards such as flooding or Source: King County’s 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan. It shows that areas with less other natural disasters because they live opportunity, higher pollution exposure, existing or work with less open space and other inequities, and lower health and economic amenities and have higher exposure to wellbeing outcomes are often concentrated in diesel, industrial processes, and other south King County. pollutants. The ability of a family or community to recover after a hazard event can be affected by poverty, language barriers, and access to health care and insurance. Transportation also has a profound influence on the lives of the adults and children living around fossil fuel emissions. For example, air pollution can be linked to increased asthma, respiratory, and cardiovascular problems. 36 Metro can significantly reduce GHG emissions, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and improve public health by building a sustainable mobility network that encourages people to use transit rather than drive. Metro can further increase
Snover, A.K. et al., No Time to Waste: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C and Implications for Washington State, a briefing paper prepared by the Climate Impacts Group. University of Washington, Seattle, 2019. Available at: https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/no-time-to-waste/ 34
University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, An Unfair Share: Exploring the disproportionate risks from climate change facing Washington state communities. University of Washington, Seattle, 2018. Available at: https://cig.uw.edu/our-work/applied-research/an-unfair-share-report/ 35
Public Health – Seattle & King County, Blueprint for Addressing Climate Change. 2019. Available at: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/~/media/depts/health/environmentalhealth/documents/publications/blueprint-climate-change-and-health.ashx 36
King County Metro
29
